Horitake was over the moon, grinning like a fool. His future in-laws had acknowledged him!
Tanjuurou shot him a displeased glare, then exchanged a knowing nod with Kie.
With that, the six souls of the Kamado family faded from view.
Horitake activated his spirit vision, confirming with relief that they hadn't dissipated or moved on to reincarnation. Instead, they had simply concealed themselves around Nezuko, no longer manifesting as spirits.
Maintaining a visible soul form was, after all, quite taxing.
Ordinarily, the family stayed hidden, silently watching over Tanjirou and Nezuko. They wouldn't have appeared at all if Horitake hadn't come to diagnose Nezuko's condition, their worry drawing them out.
Seeing them return to their hidden state, Horitake switched off his spirit vision. With a cheerful grin, he glanced at Nezuko and called out to the door, "Alright, you can come in now!"
The words barely left his mouth before Tanjirou burst through the door.
His first act was to check on Nezuko.
She was fine, unharmed.
Horitake's brow twitched, a storm of exasperation brewing. Tanjirou, really? Did he genuinely think Horitake was that kind of guy?
Not that he could entirely blame Tanjirou.
As an older brother, suspicion toward any man near his sister was only natural—an instinct carved in stone.
If Horitake were in Nezuko's brother's shoes, he'd probably be even more intense.
With a helpless sigh, he said, "Tanjirou, I swear I didn't do anything weird. I promise!"
Tanjirou sniffed the air twice, detecting no trace of deceit. His face broke into a bright smile as he turned to Horitake. "Of course not! Horitake-senpai, why would I ever doubt you? I was just… checking, that's all. No suspicion here, none at all!"
Yeah, right, Horitake thought. Nice try, Tanjirou. The honest boy had learned to fib with a straight face!
But it didn't matter. After all, Tanjirou's mother had already approved of him, and his father had entrusted both Nezuko and Tanjirou to his care.
Noticing Horitake's smug expression, Tanjirou tilted his head, puzzled. "Senpai, what were you doing in here?"
"Uh…"
How was Horitake supposed to answer that?
Telling the truth was out of the question—it would distract Tanjirou. Lying wouldn't work either; Tanjirou's nose would sniff it out.
This was a test of his bluffing skills—a delicate mix of truth and fiction, woven so seamlessly that even Tanjirou's uncanny sense of smell couldn't unravel it.
With a grave expression, Horitake said, "I was confirming something. Something very important."
Tanjirou's eyes widened, a flicker of tension crossing his face. "W-What kind of important thing?"
"I'm sorry, Tanjirou, but I can't tell you. You're not ready to bear this secret. For now, I'm not telling anyone—not even the leader of the Demon Slayer Corps. It's too significant. I have to be cautious."
Tanjirou's forehead glistened with sweat. "This… it's about Nezuko, isn't it?"
Horitake nodded solemnly. "It does involve her. But as long as I keep quiet, Nezuko's safe. So, Tanjirou, don't ask. Knowing this now won't do you any good. Focus on getting stronger. The challenges you and your sister will face… they're beyond what you can imagine."
Tanjirou, the headstrong boy, was thoroughly spooked, swallowing hard as unease gripped him.
Horitake clapped him on the shoulder, abruptly shifting to a cheerful grin. "Alright, kid, enough with the long face! The future's for later—let's focus on the present! Come on, let's haul that bear out of the pit. Today, I'm treating you and Master Urokodaki to some bear paws and stewed bear meat! Bear paws—a rare delicacy, you don't get chances like this often!"
"Huh? Senpai, you can cook?" Tanjirou blinked.
"Can I cook? Just wait 'til you see my skills!" Horitake boasted.
Together, they dragged the massive bear from the pit.
Horitake grabbed a sharp knife and set to work butchering the beast.
First, the hide.
It was his first time skinning a bear, and it showed. After much effort, he peeled off the fur—not as a single pelt, but in ragged, uneven patches.
As he worked, he grumbled at Tanjirou. "Look at this, Tanjirou! You ruined a perfectly good hide! A complete bear pelt, properly tanned and dried, could've been worth a fortune. But with all the gashes you left? It's coming off in scraps. Such a waste!"
Tanjirou threw up his hands, exasperated. "Come on, Horitake-senpai! I was fighting for my life against that thing! Do you think I had time to worry about the hide?"
Horitake, still skinning, smirked. "If it were me, I'd have done it clean. No need for that neck wound—just one stab through the eye, straight to the brain. Hide intact, no mess."
"Right, right," Tanjirou muttered. "Horitake-senpai, the mighty bear-slayer, makes it look easy. Unlike me, barely surviving and 'ruining' the pelt."
Unknowingly, their banter had taken on the easy rhythm of true friends.
This was good. This was what real friendship felt like.
After struggling through the skinning, Horitake moved to gutting the bear, a grisly task that required a mental mosaic to stomach. His heart pounded as he worked, and Tanjirou could barely watch.
The innards were discarded—Horitake had no idea how to cook them. The bear's gallbladder, however, he kept; it was a prized medicinal ingredient.
Next came deboning, another test of knife work.
As a seasoned Demon Slayer swordsman, this should've been easy for Horitake… right?
Well, it wasn't. He labored through it, sweat beading on his brow.
Finally, it was time to carve the meat. Drawing on his culinary know-how, Horitake selected prime cuts, ready to whip up a feast.
But the star of the show? The bear paws!
For those, Horitake had something special in mind: Misty River Bear Paw.
He simmered the paws in water for two hours, then scraped off the rough skin, trimmed the fur, and shaved away the calluses. After stewing them repeatedly in fresh broth, he deboned them and wrapped them in cloth.
He chopped chicken, duck, and ribs, blanched them, then added them to a pot with fresh broth, ginger, scallions, rock sugar, salt, pepper, and the wrapped bear paws. Once it boiled, he skimmed the foam, added wine, and let it simmer until the paws were tender and the broth thick.
In a separate clay pot, he heated lard to medium heat, sautéed ginger and scallions, then poured in the bear paw broth. Unwrapping the paws, he added them to the pot (the chicken, duck, and ribs set aside for other dishes), simmering until the sauce reduced. He picked out the scallion whites, placed them in the center of a round dish, and set the bear paws atop them, face-up.
A drizzle of sesame oil and a garnish of stir-fried broccoli completed the dish.
The recipe came from the internet, but with limited resources in the mountains, Horitake improvised, scrounging for substitute ingredients to create his Misty River Bear Paw.
Author's Note: Bears are protected animals in China, and hunting them is illegal. Please do not imitate the events in this novel. However, in Japan, bears are not protected, and the government culls thousands annually, making bear meat edible there. This story is set in Japan.
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